Taking to the dimly lit stage, dressed head to toe in black; high-heeled and pale faced, Dum Dum Girls are both achingly cool and undeniably sexy. Juxtaposed against the dark red of the surroundings of the Deaf Institute backdrop, it ensnares the audience. Beginning with the title track from their recent He Gets Me High EP, the band combines girl group harmonies with a touch of danger – a girl group that will steal your car and break your heart.

They follow up with Catholicked a track from the days when Dum Dum Girls was merely a solo venture for Dee Dee, and the sound is noticeably different to their recent work. Bathed in feedback and guitar fuzz, it is two and a half minutes of lo-fi noise-driven pop.

I Will Be, a standout track from last year’s critically acclaimed album of the same name is seductive and bewitching; Dee Dee coos “I will be your girl”. Bhang Bhang, I'm a Burnout operates in a similar vein. There is a sweetness to Dee Dee’s vocals that works so well with the lo-fi rock ‘n’ roll sound.

Front-woman, Dee Dee, both vocally and as a performer, has come on incredibly. She commands the stage; and despite her reassurances of “we’re still ironing out a few kinks”, the performance is near faultless. Throughout, she and guitarist Jules keep in almost metronomic time with each other as they rhythmically rock their guitars back and forth, whilst Bambi sways to her own bass groove, in the way that only bassists do.

The set closes with Rest of Our Lives and Dum Dum Girls barely step off the stage, before returning moments later, performing their cover of The Smiths’ classic, There is a Light That Never Goes Out. The key to a good cover is to make the song sound as if it is your own, and that is something they manage perfectly; you forget that is was Morrissey, et al that penned it.

“Sorry about the wait. This beard takes a long time to make pretty” says Pearson in his thick Texan drawl, as he emerges onto the Queen’s Social Club stage. The stage adorned in silver streamers give it more of a Brian Potter’s Phoenix Club vibe, than that of a live music venue.

“I’m gonna start with a Boney M. cover”, Pearson announces causing a stir of laughter from the audience, “and believe me or not, y’all be crying by the end of it.” It takes a second take for Pearson’s version to start and the laughter to subside, but when it does; Rivers of Babylon is transformed from the reggae influenced disco of Boney M. into a rousing, hushed ballad.

Sweetheart I Ain't Your Christ highlights Pearson’s strengths wonderfully. His sorrowful, melancholic vocals encapsulate a tortured soul as he pours everything into his intensely personal chronicles of loss and regret. The 12 minute epic draws a stunned silence from the awestruck audience for its entirety, who then erupt in rapturous applause as it finishes.

His songs may be gut-wrenching, spine-tingling juggernauts but Pearson reveals himself to be both a charismatic and humorous man. “I have an album. Give me ten dollars and download that shit for free. Don’t tell the record label,” he jokes before starting Thou Art Loosed, the opening track from that record.

Pearson closes the set with Country Dumb, taking the audiences breath away one last time. Even a guitar malfunction mid-way through doesn’t put him off his stride as he finishes the song unplugged and without a microphone; taking the plaintive tale to new stratospheres of intimacy.

Josh T. Pearson’s live performance has the exact same effect as his record. It is visceral, emotionally draining and powerful, but understated enough to not be overwrought or unrefined. Pearson has the audience hanging on his every word and it is testament to him as a performer that he has you laughing out loud one minute and breaking your heart the next.